The case centred on a meeting at Moscow's Metropol hotel in October 2018, where the three Italians and three Russian intermediaries allegedly discussed siphoning off 65 million euros from the profits of an oil sale transaction.
The probe into international corruption regarding Gianluca Savoini, former spokesman of League, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the Lombardy-Russia association, Gianluca Meranda and former banker Francesco Vannucci has been dropped.
“Investigations into alleged Russian funding from the Metropol case shelved,” Salvini, who is also deputy premier, said via Twitter.
“We now expect apologies and we are preparing lawsuits for many people.”
The Milan preliminary investigations judge who shelved the case wrote in the decision that, while ultimately no crime could be proven, the unfulfilled aim of the negotiations was to get cash directed towards the party.
The judge wrote that the investigation uncovered acts staged “unequivocally” with the “final aim of illegally financing the League party” thanks to Savoini's relations with influential Russian political, economic and cultural figures.
It said the aim was unfulfilled, in part because the main oil-sale transaction did not take place.
The judge also said it was impossible to identify the Russian officials who would have been involved in the alleged corruption.
ANSA
